As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe + Gameswipe starting now!

RamiRami Registered User regular
edited October 2009 in Debate and/or Discourse
Screenwipe is a television programme about television programmes; the cost, the surprising amount of work and bureaucracy involved, how programmes are selected for broadcast and (usually scathing) analysis of specific programmes and genres. He also talks about something positive in each episode too, and often branches out into other forms of media and it's effects on society.

It's also very, very funny.

The 5th series started a few weeks ago, but since it's on BBC4 I always forget to watch it. Thankfully you can watch every episode on the internet, helpfully compiled into playlists for each series.

I've handily embedded the first part of episode 1 here

And you can watch the rest (including previous series) from here.


Gameswipe is a new series from Brooker that is basically Screenwipe but with video games rather than TV.

Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
sig.gif
Rami on
«1

Posts

  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    I have so much <3 for Charlie Brooker. Even with his weird face.

    And I see Ashleyne is still cropping up in items. We all know what your angle is there, Charlie.

    Bogart on
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I was so happy when YouTube gave me a new episode from xthemusic among my subscriptions. So happy. <3

    Glal on
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I'll wait for the superior US version like the Office.
    Oh no he dinnit!

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I love Screenwipe. I don't even care about television; it's shit and the people who obsess over it are shit. Despite my total lack of appreciation for the subject, Screenwipe is always one of the comedy highlights of the year. Brooker's delivery is fantastic, as is his choice of subject (usually) but...

    This week's "writer's special" was dreadful; I had to stop watching after fifteen minutes. I can see it appealing to a select audience of media nerds, but not what I see as the typical Screenwipe crowd. It wasn't Screenwipe. It wasn't even funny. It was Charlie Brooker Talks To: Television Writers. The writers interviewed were painfully dull-witted. I was very disappointed in Lineham, who seems to be a hack. I'll generously put that down to him being more suited to pen and paper, than chair and camera.

    Your interview program is in trouble when Russel T. Fucking Davies is the only interviewee preventing your audience from nodding off.

    Mumblyfish on
  • Anarchy Rules!Anarchy Rules! Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I too love Charlie Brooker, though I have found his new series isn't hitting as heady peaks as the previous ones. Still is amazingly funny though.

    Just a quick question: Does anyone find the poetry section at all funny? I find it dull.

    Anarchy Rules! on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I didn't get the Liza Tarbuck bit, I kept expecting Brooker to interrupt and complain about how terrible it was, and bemoan how anyone would want to watch a remnant of tv past remembering another bit of television.

    Rook on
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    I don't think Brooker's against nostalgia or someone remembering a much-loved show they watched avidly as a kid. He'd tear into a clips show and the rent-a-quotes that populate them, sure, but someone talking about some TV they really, really loved? Fair enough.

    Bogart on
  • AyulinAyulin Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Just a quick question: Does anyone find the poetry section at all funny? I find it dull.

    I don't get it at all, but I didn't get the little animations that were in previous seasons either; the rest of the show is still hilarious, though.

    This totally slipped under my radar, so thanks to the OP for bringing it up :D

    Ayulin on
    steam_sig.png
  • Mr BubblesMr Bubbles David Koresh Superstar Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Kagera wrote: »
    I'll wait for the superior US version like the Office.
    Oh no he dinnit!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaxlK9ByRHE

    Mr Bubbles on
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Holy shit is that the guy from Jay Leno?

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Mr Bubbles wrote: »
    The first thirty seconds aptly sums up why Charlie Brooker is so bloody wonderful.

    No, I don't like Tim Keye's poetry, and no, I don't like the ex-celebrity nostalgia spots. I watch Screenwipe for Brooker - and the Screenwipe staff when more bodies are needed onscreen. Everything else is a diversion. I think Keye's poetry would be funny if he got a comedian to tell him when to stop. In the advertising episode, Keye's punchline should have been "So... they're children. They're both children... that's the twist", but his poem continues for what seems like another minute. He went past his opportunity to deliver a funny finishing line, and his poem trundles on to an embarrassing fart at the end.

    Did anyone notice that they got a new guy on the production staff this season? He was used in more gags than old favourite Barry Shitpeas, right from episode one. My, they broke him in quickly.

    Mumblyfish on
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Nice thing about YouTube. You can skip that section.

    Glal on
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    Just started watching the writer's special. So far not much is going on other than extreme matiness.

    Bogart on
  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Bogart wrote: »
    Just started watching the writer's special. So far not much is going on other than extreme matiness.

    I've really enjoyed the first part. Yes, it's pure matiness but I'm in the grove, I enjoy hearing creative people talking about the experience of being creative.

    Alistair Hutton on
    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    Bogart wrote: »
    I don't think Brooker's against nostalgia or someone remembering a much-loved show they watched avidly as a kid. He'd tear into a clips show and the rent-a-quotes that populate them, sure, but someone talking about some TV they really, really loved? Fair enough.

    Exactly. I don't think Brooker would be doing this show if he hated TV.

    Jacobkosh on
    rRwz9.gif
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    Episode 4 is much more traditional Screenwipey stuff.

    Bogart on
  • DiarmuidDiarmuid Amazing Meatball Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Mumblyfish wrote: »
    I was very disappointed in Lineham, who seems to be a hack.

    This is quite possibly the most wrong thing I've ever read, Father Ted and Black Books were both classics, the IT Crowd isn't too bad eirther.

    Diarmuid on
  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Diarmuid wrote: »
    Mumblyfish wrote: »
    I was very disappointed in Lineham, who seems to be a hack.

    This is quite possibly the most wrong thing I've ever read, Father Ted and Black Books were both classics, the IT Crowd isn't too bad eirther.

    I think it was more to do with the line where he says 'I look for funny stuff on the TV and internet and then put it in my sitcom', followed by a clip of an exact replica of the Guy Goma thing on the IT Crowd.

    Rami on
    Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
    sig.gif
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Cue tired analogy of artists and references and blah blah. If Black Books was just reproduction of the internet then by GOD do I want his bookmarks.

    Glal on
  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I didn't say a bad word about Father Ted or the first series of Black Books. But if you were to take Lineham's appearance on Screenwipe as a measure of the man, you would think that they happened purely by accident.

    Mumblyfish on
  • Anarchy Rules!Anarchy Rules! Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    That new episode was classic Brooker. Konnie Huq introducing the mission doc was hilarious "Ever since I was young I've had a fascination of urination"

    Anarchy Rules! on
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited December 2008
    New episode is on iPlayer, and is a nostlagia fest of children's TV (Brian Cant, Derek Grifiths, Johnny Ball, the terrifying Chuckle Brothers, etc). Also, ever so slightly excruciatingly, he presents some kids TV.

    I'd forgotten Mr Noseybonk.

    EDIT: Also, horrifying children's TV puppet show is horrifying.

    Bogart on
  • KrunkMcGrunkKrunkMcGrunk Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    This show is great. I wish I lived in the UK so I could watch Brittish TV.

    KrunkMcGrunk on
    mrsatansig.png
  • LerageLerage Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Thank you so much for introducing me to this, I hadn't watched it even though I'm a UKer, mostly because I don't ever bother with BBC4.

    I didn't particularly enjoy the writers episode though - I'm not a fan of Father Ted and all of those obvious humour type shows, but the guy that writes them definitely seems daft enough. Similarly with the others, their own style reflected their tv shows. Though most just oozed "tortured artiste", so I'm glad the shows gone back to ripping it out of things instead of pampering to people's smugness.

    Lerage on
  • KrunkMcGrunkKrunkMcGrunk Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    My only regret is that there isn't more of this available on youtube.

    KrunkMcGrunk on
    mrsatansig.png
  • LerageLerage Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I think all of the episodes are on Youtube, here's the first part of the very first episode:

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gSa3W06gQZk

    Lerage on
  • Lord_MordjaLord_Mordja Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    That one show...

    Nightmares. I will have them.

    Lord_Mordja on
  • Red or AliveRed or Alive Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    That Yankee puppeteer occasionally pops up in Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! doesn't he?

    Red or Alive on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2008
    I loved Connie Huq in episode 4, I think she did a really good job.

    Tube on
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    ^ Thread-bump ^

    He's doing a new show (Newswipe), will be broadcast soon, picking apart media bias etc. :D
    'If it bleeds, it leads'

    It's a cliche, but a depressingly accurate one. On the day thousands of people took to the streets of Northern Ireland to denounce violence, their efforts were shunted down the news menu by a lone German maniac's random shooting spree. Bad news wins.

    Robert Peston's delivery

    His speed up/slow down speech patterns make him sound like a man receiving a blowjob under the desk who's desperately trying to cover it up. Just like the chief of police in that scene in Police Academy.

    Terrible wordplay is in

    Sky's Dermot Murnaghan spent a week travelling the UK by bike to see how the recession was affecting ordinary people. The item's name? Dermot's Economic Cycle.

    The economic crisis is vague

    It's so complex, and so non-visual, the news networks send themselves insane trying to illustrate what, say, quantitative easing is. They cook up so many different metaphors - one minute the economy is like a frozen fish tank, the next it's a faulty car engine - that the more reports you watch, the more confused you get. Still, this bafflement qualifies you as an expert, since the pundits don't know what's happening either.

    Zilla360 on
    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Guffstorm. I'll have to use that. :lol:

    Bad news breeds more bad news?

    Zilla360 on
    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    This was a very interesting show. It's sad that I find shows about news more valuable than the news itself.

    Rhesus Positive on
    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Heh. He's covering the American Media this week. Great show.

    Zilla360 on
    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • HaikiraHaikira UKRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I only found out about this at Christmas, with the Christmas special. First show that's had me in stitches in a while. Oh, and that special was certainly awkward to watch with mixed company. :|

    Haikira on
    steam_sig.png
    PSN:Hakira__
  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    "dystopian future sci fi satirical shouty porn sledgehammer channel" is the best description of Fox News I've ever heard.

    -SPI- on
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    -SPI- wrote: »
    "dystopian future sci fi satirical shouty porn sledgehammer channel" is the best description of Fox News I've ever heard.
    Fucking thing sucks!
    Glenn Beck is terrifying just by how deranged he is.

    Zilla360 on
    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Zilla360 on
    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • Mr BubblesMr Bubbles David Koresh Superstar Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    'Disappointingly, Sarkozy didn't storm out going 'haw hee haw hee haw'

    Mr Bubbles on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I've seen the first three episodes of Newswipe and it's still fantastic having someone like Brooker working in TV, who seems to highlight vocalise all my frustrations with present-day media, but with far more eloquence, precision and humour than I could ever manage.

    Screenwipe and Newswipe need to be required viewing for anybody looking to work in print or television.

    darleysam on
    forumsig.png
  • ScroffusScroffus Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    darleysam wrote: »
    I've seen the first three episodes of Newswipe and it's still fantastic having someone like Brooker working in TV, who seems to highlight vocalise all my frustrations with present-day media, but with far more eloquence, precision and humour than I could ever manage.

    Screenwipe and Newswipe need to be required viewing for anybody looking to read print or watch television.

    This seems like a more accurate statement. This show has taught me so much about television and the fact that it is funny is just a bonus.

    Scroffus on
Sign In or Register to comment.